Merkel on Berlin terror attack: We will punish the culprit harshly

Chancellor to visit site later Tuesday

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to punish the perpetrators of the terrorist truck attack in Berlin, which led to the death of 12 civilians and the injury of 48 other, during a televised address to the German public, Tuesday. “Millions of people wonder how we can live with what happened in the Christmas market? A murderer killed so many people in such a happy place? I cannot find an answer to that question”, she said. She added that it would be difficult for the German public to accept the prospect that the perpetrator had sought asylum in Germany as a migrant, she stressed. The German Chancellor said she would visit the site of the tragedy within the day, stressing she had confidence in the investigations underway by the German police. “We want to live free”, she concluded in her address.